The IT industry is positioned to experience major technology shifts within the next few years as a result of the rise of cloud adoption. According to Gartner, more than $1 trillion in IT spending will be affected by the shift to the cloud by 2020 - making cloud computing "one of the most disruptive forces of IT spending since the early days of the digital age." As enterprises prepare for, or continue to run on, the cloud, it is important for them to have a strong grasp of the cloud adoption process and the requirements for ongoing management of cloud environments. Here are five major trends that will shake up the industry in 2017.

1. Major acquisitionsThe pressures of cloud computing are becoming increasingly prevalent. As enterprises fight to stay ahead of the competition, many will choose to pursue acquisitions to both bolster their existing capabilities and fill the gaps in their cloud portfolios. Similar to Oracle's $9.3 billion acquisition of cloud computing company NetSuite, we'll continue to see large enterprises making huge strategic acquisitions to accelerate IT momentum and deepen their cloud offerings.

2. Transition away from manual processesThis year, we'll start to see many of the world's largest enterprises automate their cloud processes. As McKinsey & Company predicts, many are "likely to move workloads away from traditional and virtualized environments...at a rate and pace that is expected to be far quicker than in the past." In 2017, many Global 2000 companies will be forced to abandon their manual practices, as they can no longer manage hundreds of workloads. To effectively streamline workflows and accelerate cloud services, many will invest in operational processes and focus on how to effectively manage and run on the cloud.

3. Slower container adoptionAlthough container adoption has become increasingly popular within the IT industry over the last few years, we're not going to see the level of extreme growth that was originally predicted. There are major advantages to moving to container-based architectures, including reduced complexity, maximized portability, better distributed computing capabilities and the ability for designers to create new applications. However, there are also some challenges that cause reluctance in decision makers - including the fact that containers don't support the deployment of all existing applications.

4. Increased demand for cloud experienceAs the push for cloud adoption increases, many companies will run into a major roadblock: the limited cloud talent available to assist with the migration. In 2017, enterprises will be forced to dig deep into their budgets to hire top-notch talent that is capable of leading the transition - with many organizations spending more than $113,000 in annual salaries. As more professionals choose to pursue this undeniably growing field, these roadblocks will decrease over time.

5. Cloud SecurityA major benefit of cloud-based architectures is the added security the complex structure provides. Now more than ever people will start to realize the true value of the cloud. In 2017, more and more traditional systems will be breached, while clouds will remain untouched. Hackers will successfully target the more vulnerable, on-premises systems, but they will fail to defeat the multiple levels of security and governance established in cloud-based frameworks.

The cloud is the most powerful force transforming the enterprise landscape today. As more companies look to migrate to the cloud, or manage their existing cloud environments, we'll continue to see these trends evolve.

Dave Linthicum is Sr. VP at Cloud Technology Partners, and an internationally known cloud computing and SOA expert. He is a sought-after consultant, speaker, and blogger. In his career, Dave has formed or enhanced many of the ideas behind modern distributed computing including EAI, B2B Application Integration, and SOA, approaches and technologies in wide use today. In addition, he is the Editor-in-Chief of SYS-CON's Virtualization Journal.

For the last 10 years, he has focused on the technology and strategies around cloud computing, including working with several cloud computing startups. His industry experience includes tenure as CTO and CEO of several successful software and cloud computing companies, and upper-level management positions in Fortune 500 companies. In addition, he was an associate professor of computer science for eight years, and continues to lecture at major technical colleges and universities, including University of Virginia and Arizona State University. He keynotes at many leading technology conferences, and has several well-read columns and blogs. Linthicum has authored 10 books, including the ground-breaking "Enterprise Application Integration" and "B2B Application Integration." You can reach him at [email protected] Or follow him on Twitter. Or view his profile on LinkedIn.

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